Category Archives: recycling

my home office is literally packed with boxes and bins of fabric scraps. most of it is from my sweet t baby days when i saved all my production scraps. all of it is organic: organic cotton, organic hemp/cotton blends, knits and wovens.

i’ve managed to donate some here and there to local programs but the amount is becoming overwhelming. i’ve never had much success locating a company or factory that would take lots of scraps for reproduction. i always thought that would be the best place for them. couldn’t they be made into recycled cloths, or even new fabrics? nothing came up locally or in the southeast region. i certainly wasn’t going to pay to ship this stuff, not only b/c of the weight but because i just think shipping is just excessive. so i just sat on it all, waiting for that moment when i had the energy to deal with it.

it’s that time now to just unload.

luckily, the DIY movement has grown exponentially since i closed my own business. i have found 2 local groups that will accept scraps of all shapes and sizes to repurpose them into clothes and accessories for babies and children in need. how perfect.

so this week, it is on my to-do list to contact these groups and arrange for drop-off.

market day! a day for our entrepreneurial 3rd graders to pimp their goods and services after their unit of study on commerce. my son started off wanting to bake cookies, then sell his personal drawings. then he switched to hand decorated pencils. clearly, he was all over the place.

so after a discussion on identifying his target consumer, competition, and access to materials, he decided to make upcycled jewelry that would appeal to both the boys and the girls.

i suggested making tshirt yarn as we had a pile of shirts that the kids have outgrown and were too stained to donate.

he watched this helpful video:

materials needed:

tshirts

rotary fabric cutter

ruler

cutting board

sewing machine (optional)

my daughter taught him how to braid and although it was tough for him at first, he became a braiding machine after a few tries.

after an afternoon of family crafting, like our own little factory, we helped him make a bunch of necklaces and bracelets. i did find that sewing the ends together with a piece of scrap fabric wrapped around the ends ensured a more secure connection.

how? how does artist junior fritz jacquet do this? it’s utterly fantastic. maybe he soaks them to loosen the fibers to make the roll more maliable? shall i try it? i guess i’m going to have to because it just blows me away.

okay, so with 5 people in the house, we collect a lot of these toilet paper rolls. usually i toss them into our recycling bin but luckily, our amazing art teacher at the kids’ school is actively collecting them in hopes of getting enough to do a project with the middle school students.